I am kinda fed up off trying all these privacy focused search engines which provide lesser quality service. Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

  1. Duckduckgo: bad results when you search something that piracy related
  2. Searx: I’m not geeky enough to host mine own searx so I just jump from one instance to another and the uptimes have been bad.
  3. Startpage: Idk why it’s down most of the time
  4. Ecosia: Not very private, but I just tried it for the sake of it. It’s bad when it comes to the results.

Honestly I feel Brave search is the best when it comes to results. But the sketchy practices kept me away from it. Kagi is paid so I haven’t tried it.

What have you been using?

    • cardfire@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      This is exciting to hear! Last I heard, Ecosia just wrapped Google’s results. KAGI is pretty upfront about doing the same.

      This will sound silly, but an absolute need-to-have for me is the ability to throw basic math problems into the search bar as a calculator.

      I never reach for a calculator or spin up a separate app for it, or want to widget on my desktop… instead, I just press the keyboard shortcut for a new tab in my browser and then just belt out whatever parentheticals I need.

      This pretty much serves as the basis for my evaluating different search engines, if it won’t handle the algebra for me, I have to move on.

      • passenger@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        Afaik qwant is using Bing where their own index fails.

        You could set up a key combo for a calculator app all the same. And have some fancier calculator app open locally…

        • cardfire@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          I absolutely could launch the calculator app by keyboard shortcut when I’m on a desktop. And I kept a calculator widget across an entire full screen in my Android phone’s home menu, for many years.

          These days, I really value the ability to just open a new tab, belt out my instructions, hit enter, and see the result though - - it is mostly things like calculating the total cost of buying something across a year, or calculating currency conversions, or estimating battery capacities and consumption rates.

          In this regard, without wanting to buy into an entire AI ecosystem, I do require my search engines to do at least one function beyond mere searches: Pre-algebra.